Dear EarthTalk: Are mothballs safe to use? If not, are there any
environmentally friendly alternatives?--Anna Wiener, Dearborn, Michigan

Even though they are not as popular as they once were, mothballs
are still used by many people to keep stored clothes, furniture and
carpets free of hungry pests like moths. But the very ingredients that
make mothballs so effective as household pesticides--namely naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene (PDB)--also make them dangerous to any person or
animal who breathes the fumes or ingests them directly. Such chemicals
are often listed as primary offenders when household air is tested for
indoor air pollution.

Exposure to naphthalene or PDB can induce relatively minor human
health problems such as nausea, vomiting, headache, coughing, burning
eyes and shortness of breath. The World Health Organization's
International Agency for Research on Cancer considers both naphthalene
and PDB to be hazardous carcinogens as well. These chemicals, which are
also found in some dry cleaning agents as well as household air
fresheners and solid toilet-bowl deodorizers, have been found to nearly
double the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma--a cancer of the
blood--for those who come into frequent contact with them.

So what's a conscientious homemaker to do? For starters,
removing all mothballs and their flakes from the home is a good first
step. Experts suggest donning gloves and even perhaps a mask before
manually removing intact mothballs. Affected clothing can be
machine-washed and dried several times, preferably on high heat
settings. If the smell of mothballs continues to linger, any such
clothes can be ironed--also with high heat settings, which tend to break
down the active chemicals quicker. Sunlight also breaks down naphthalene
and PDB, so leaving any affected items outside on hot sunny days may
also help.

Carpets and upholstery co-mingled with mothballs should be vacuumed
thoroughly, with vacuum cleaner bags containing mothball traces emptied
immediately outdoors. If the mothball smell lingers after vacuuming, a
professional cleaning might do the trick, although such services can
introduce other harmful chemicals, such as the carcinogen
perchloroethylene, into the household as well. (ChemDry and Zoots both
offer in-home carpet and upholstery cleaning services that do not rely
on harmful chemicals.) After any kind of mothball removal effort, the
cleaned house or closet should be aired out, ideally with one or more
fans blowing as much fresh outdoor air through as possible.

As to alternatives for keeping moths and other critters away from
clothes and other valuable fabrics, Care2.com's green home guru and
author Annie Berthold-Bond suggests using home-made sachet pillows
filled with a dried herb mixture combining two parts each of rosemary
and mint, one part each of thyme and ginseng, and eight parts whole
cloves. The herbs can be mixed and combined in the center of a bandana
or handkerchief that is then tied with a ribbon and placed among the
stored items. Also, Richards Housewares makes "Moth-Away Herbal
Moth Repellant," a pre-packaged product that makes use of a similar
formula. It's available from planetnatural.com and other online
environmental product websites.